A Shopkeeper’s Millennium: Society and Revivals in Rochester, New York, 1815–1837

What types of people were most drawn to Finney’s religious revival? What social and historical factors drove them to embrace Finney’s teachings?

Over the course of the 1820s, Rochester’s society became increasingly class-stratified, with the working-class and middle-class populations inhabiting separate social spheres. What factors drove this class division? How did Rochester’s working and middle classes respond to this growing divide?

How did Finney’s evangelical teachings differ from traditional Protestant theology? What effect did these teachings have on Finney’s congregants? Did their social attitudes and beliefs change?